wet one's pants

English

Etymology

The senses referring to laughing and being afraid are extensions from the literal (urination) sense; both involve an element of variably literal or figurative nature: they are generally figurative, but if one laughs hard enough or gets frightened badly enough, the wetting may sometimes happen literally.

Verb

wet one's pants (third-person singular simple present wets one's pants, present participle wetting one's pants, simple past and past participle wet one's pants or wetted one's pants)

2. (idiomatic) To wet oneself, to urinate in one's clothes while wearing them.

   Coordinate terms: crap one's pants; wet the bed

   If you keep on refusing to excuse anyone for a bathroom break, you're going to force someone to wet their pants. Don't go overboard with it.

4. (informal, vulgar, idiomatic) To laugh uncontrollably.

   Pretty much the whole night at the comedy club was hilarious, but that encore by Taylor Tomlinson had me wetting my pants.

6. (informal, vulgar, idiomatic) To be afraid; especially, to be extremely afraid.

   Synonym: crap one's pants

   He just about wet his pants when he found out how many accounts receivable were still outstanding.

Synonyms

• (all senses): piss one's pants

Related terms

• (fear): scaredy pants

Translations

wet oneself — see wet oneself